An advantage offered by network-based transaction facilities (e.g., business-to-business, business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer Internet marketplaces and retailers) and on-line communities is that by using such facilities or communities, users may shop from a variety of merchants.
The merchants may offer a variety of products or specialize in one type of product. Some users buy products after searching through the offerings of the various merchants and comparing the products and the prices.
Recently comparison shopping facilities have developed that list various merchant offerings on one site to aid users in choosing from which merchant they should buy an item. These comparison shopping facilities present items by listing the price and name of the merchant offering the item.
The user may choose items from the listing and go to each merchant's site to learn more about each item or buy the item. Each available item from each manufacturer is listed separately. Thus, a user has to go to the comparison shopping facility either knowing what product to buy beforehand, and compare merchants and prices at the facility, or look at each item separately, by following a link to each merchant's site, to determine if the item is appropriate. Most comparisons performed by comparison shopping sites are based on the merchant's offer price. That is, the result of the comparison shopping is a list of items listed according to price.